Investigation of Microalgae Co-Cultures for Nutrient Recovery and Algal Biomass Production from Dairy Manure

Treatment of waste streams using algae can minimize eutrophication by removing inorganic nutrients while producing biomass which can be used for biofuels, animal feed, and fertilizer production. While there are many studies that report the growth of individual algal strains in different media, there are relatively few studies that examine the performance of algae coculture. The objective of this research was to determine the growth parameters and nutrient sequestration profiles of Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus dimorphus, and their coculture in wastewater from a dairy facility at two dilutions (10% and 25%). Average specific growth rates (and biomass concentrations) the S. dimorphus, C. vulgaris, and their coculture were 0.263 d⁻¹ (0.290±0.059 g/L), 0.063 d⁻¹ (0.145±0.011 g/L), and 0.250 d⁻¹ (0.400±0.060 g/L) d⁻¹ at 10% manure, and 0.232 d⁻¹ (0.543±0.149 g/L), 0.234 d⁻¹ (0.364±0.113 g/L), and 0.289 d⁻¹ (0.612±0.255 g/L) at 25% manure, respectively. Based on the results it was evident that the strains S. dimorphus and C. vulgaris have different capacities for accumulation of biomass production (S. dimorphus is higher), lipid accumulation (S. dimorphus is higher), chlorophyll (C. vulgaris is higher), total suspended solids (TSS) (C. vulgaris is higher), and volatile suspended solids (VSS) (S. dimorphus is higher). It was found that mixed coculture had higher biomass growth, specific growth rate, and removal efficiency of nitrogen, phosphorous, and TSS for the 25% dairy wastewater. The results were similar for 10% dairy wastewater except for the specific growth rate and nitrogen removal efficiency which were higher for the S. dimorphus monoculture. These capacities can be leveraged in mixed coculture to achieve higher treatment efficiencies compared to monocultures. The results can inform managers of agricultural and municipal wastewater facilities as they make decisions about whether to include algal technology in future upgrades and expansion.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and can be found at: http://elibrary.asabe.org/toc_landing.asp?conf=aeaj.Keywords: Scenedesmus dimorphus, Wastewater, Phosphate removal, Nitrate removal, Microalgae coculture, Chlorella vulgari

Higher Structures, Self-Dual Strings and 6d Superconformal Field Theories

I summarize and discuss some recent results on formulating actions of six-dimensional superconformal field theories using the language of higher gauge theory. The latter guarantees mathematical consistency of our constructions and we review crucial aspects of this framework, such as $L_\infty$-algebras and corresponding kinematical data given by higher connections. We then show that there is a mathematically consistent non-Abelian extension of the self-dual string equation which satisfies many physical expectations. Our construction favors a particular higher gauge group leading us to higher principal bundles known as string structures. Using these, we manage to formulate a six-dimensional action which shares many properties with the famous $(2,0)$-theory but also still differs from it in some key points.Comment: 16 pages, Contribution to Proceedings of LMS/EPSRC Durham Symposium Higher Structures in M-Theory, August 201

Targeted Nanocarriers for Systemic Delivery of IRAK4 Inhibitors to Inflamed Tissues

Persistent and uncontrolled inflammation is the root cause of various debilitating diseases. Given that interleukin-1 receptor–associated kinase 4 (IRAK4) is a critical modulator of inflammation, inhibition of its activity with selective drug molecules (IRAK4 inhibitors) represents a promising therapeutic strategy for inflammatory disorders. To exploit the full potential of this treatment approach, drug carriers for efficient delivery of IRAK4 inhibitors to inflamed tissues are essential. Herein, the first nanoparticle-based platform for the targeted systemic delivery of a clinically tested IRAK4 inhibitor, PF-06650833, with limited aqueous solubility (57 μg mL-1) is presented. The developed nanocarriers increase the intrinsic aqueous dispersibility of this IRAK4 inhibitor by 40 times. A targeting peptide on the surface of nanocarriers significantly enhances their accumulation after intravenous injection in inflamed tissues of mice with induced paw edema and ulcerative colitis when compared to non-targeted counterparts. The delivered IRAK4 inhibitor markedly abates inflammation and dramatically suppresses paw edema, mitigates colitis symptoms, and reduces proinflammatory cytokine levels in the affected tissues. Importantly, repeated injections of IRAK4 inhibitor-loaded nanocarriers have no acute toxic effect on major organs of mice. Therefore, the developed nanocarriers have the potential to significantly improve the therapeutic efficacy of IRAK4 inhibitors for different inflammatory diseases

Generalized higher gauge theory

We study a generalization of higher gauge theory which makes use of generalized geometry and seems to be closely related to double field theory. The local kinematical data of this theory is captured by morphisms of graded manifolds between the canonical exact Courant Lie 2-algebroid $TM\oplus T^*M$ over some manifold $M$ and a semistrict gauge Lie 2-algebra. We discuss generalized curvatures and their infinitesimal gauge transformations. Finite gauge transformation as well as global kinematical data are then obtained from principal 2-bundles over 2-spaces. As dynamical principle, we consider first the canonical Chern-Simons action for such a gauge theory. We then show that a previously proposed 3-Lie algebra model for the six-dimensional (2,0) theory is very naturally interpreted as a generalized higher gauge theory.Comment: 24 pages, minor corrections, typos fixed, published versio